Sunday, February 05, 2006

Reality and TV (Not Necessarily in that Order)

Why do I watch episodes of Law and Order about kidnapping young children? I never, ever watch L&O SVU -- way too upsetting. But Tivo picks up the occasional episode of the original L&O, and I sometimes watch. But when the episode description involves a kidnapped child -- why, oh WHY do I watch? This is just plain stupidity on my part.

Moving on to reality.

For the last few days, we've changed our son's nap and bedtime routine. The old routines were along the lines of: Wait for child to feel sleepy and eventually doze off. Carry child from where he sleeps to an available bed. Later, we evolved into: Lie down with child in his toddler-size car-shaped bed. Contort body into highly uncomfortable position and lie still for 40 minutes to two hours until child falls asleep. You can see where maybe this isn't the best system. So, a few days ago, we started a new system. Now we stick the kid in his bed, give him Elmo, and kiss him goodnight. We leave the room. He falls asleep, or he stays awake and sings to himself, plays with his truck, and then falls asleep. Either way, it's working, and this amazes me no end.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read under the 'fraternal bed' information (I forget the site) that mothers and babies (the article was about a new-born) tend to interact through their breathing as they sleep -- heart beats and breathes come together, they maintain a set separation of 12" or so, and are very aware of the other's discomfort. Perhaps while younger there was something going on that Mom being their at bed time helped, then when you leave, changed the pattern.

Leaving him to fall asleep on his own may work, but will likely hit snags. I doubt there is any answer that works all the time for any child.

Blessed be!